Conference realignment came for the Big East and I did not speak out because Cal was not in the Big East. Conference realignment came for the Big12 and I did not speak out because Cal was not in the Big12. Finally conference realignment came for the Pac12 and no one cared about Cal.
I've been in your camp, Nick, for a very long time. I've been there since the start of the BCS nonsense and have often fretted that we were seeing the changing of college football and not for the better in pursuit of the almighty dollar. All the while ADs and college presidents said that NIL would be the death of college football. The unspoken part was that the ADs and the college presidents would be the death of college football because they would pursue the Big Bucks even if ti meant making college football nothing more than the NFL minor leagues.
Bowl games will contract, maybe dry up, within the next decade if not sooner. College football has always been about transferring wealth from the fans and the colleges to the bowl game folks and the TV networks ever since the advent of TV and the SEC.
The Rose Bowl is on life support, and it's only recently been made obvious that this is the case.
The loss of regional rivalries like this is going to hurt the sport in the long run, even if the current bosses can't see it while they chase short-term TV money. Strip away the history and tradition, and at some point college football just becomes a worse version of the NFL.
This feels like earthquake weather, just the college football edition. I can imagine waking up to a whole bunch of different scenarios that I would never have imagined just a couple of months ago.
The obvious and only solution for me is to stop caring about college sports. That's a decision that, while it has some pangs of regret, has been getting easier and easier for a long time.
I don't believe most Cal fans want to see Cal in the Big 10, Big 12 or ACC. Our choices are limited - and it's all about the lesser evils. Cal must work to preserve what's left of the original Pac - in whatever form or under whatever affiliation is necessary. As for the southern traitors - you're dead to us.
I share the sentiments of the author. I've lived my entire life rooting against $C and the little bruins. Of all games Cal plays, even more for me than Furd, I want to beat the LA schools. Nothing, nothing, will replace that. Why have I ever cheered for college sports, and remained a fan into adulthood instead of switching to a focus on professional sports? Because I have loved the amateur status and scholar/athleticism of Pac 8-10-12 schools. Take that away, and what is there? Why would I watch on Saturday? I have season tickets this year. What will the future look like for my investment? This whole thing is depressing. It rocks my world more than just about anything. How the next few years play out will be profoundly impactful to Cal Athletics not only through TV rights and such, but alumni loyalty and ticket purchases.
UCLA fan here (pay no attention to the avatar with a Davidson-era Steph Curry, it’s complicated). I love this move for UCLA because it gives them a path to become competitive again and get the athletic department out of a hole. I think UCLA will emerge and look a lot like what Texas A&M looks like in the SEC now.
I hate this move because it destroys West Coast athletics as we know it. My school just happened to get thrown a lifeline—the definition of failing upward.
There’s a lot of blame to go around, sure — Oregon and Stanford not capitalizing on CFP opportunities, the conference being locked into a long term deal, scheduling, refs, title game locations, etc.
The two biggest failures in my mind though, come down to local leadership at the CA schools, and leadership at the conference levels.
The conference level is obvious—the CEO group enabled Larry Scott towards a decade of incompetence. And Gene Block was one of his strongest supporters, along with Michael Crow at ASU.
But plain and simple, the CA ADs and the UC system botched their tenures. Dan Guerrero almost single-handedly ruined the athletic department all for the sake of “keeping a balanced budget”. You all know how Barbour screwed everything up for Cal athletics better than I did. It’s part of Stanford culture not to give a shit about football save for the three years you have a once in a generation prospect like Andrew Luck, and USCs revolving door of sanctions, Kiffin/Sark/Helton and ADs (Pat Haden and Lynn Swann? Really?) led to USC becoming an absolute joke.
All those isolated failures had massive implications on the PAC-12 brand. It matters when the 4 schools that are in two of the largest media markets in the country and are supposed to be carrying the flag for the conference just shit the bed.
And that’s a shame. We weren’t just the Conference of Champions, we used to be one of the strongest football conferences in the country even in the early 2010s. It’s just astounding (and sad) 10 years of abysmal leadership led to the dissolution of 100+ years of tradition and history as a conference.
It is pretty clear that pecuniary interests have once again trumped student welfare and tradition. Flights will be longer and will disrupt the athletes’ academics to a greater extent. Whether the students themselves or their parents actually care about academics at all is another matter… The increased travel costs will likely become burden for the UC system generally and the State, not UCLA, while increased advert. revenues UCLA will attempt to keep for themselves. For me, UCLA leaving PAC-10/12 isn’t very important. Stanford, Oregon and UW, WA State are Cal’s principal rivals. It is disappointing to see USC go though. Perhaps we can find other Universities on the Pacific Coast who would like the challenge of playing in the PAC-10/12. Pepperdine and Gonzaga come to mind…. Also USF. ( I don’t know which conference they play in now).
This news has all been so deflating over the past several weeks. Is there any good news? Is the team focused and prepared for a winning season or is this a distraction?
In lieu of the SBNation blogs, what are the WFC equivalents for the other Pac-12 California schools? Interested in getting the temperatures of fanbases of over the realignment conversation.
Absolutely sucks whats going on with college ball. Realignment and nil will kill it. It was supposed to be amateur athletics. Texas Tech just announced they will pay every player 25k per year. Think that's about beginning farm club rate for minors and no one goes to those games either.
To say nothing of the environmental impact of this decision, the Twitter comments seem to indicate that UCLA fans hate it too.
Conference realignment came for the Big East and I did not speak out because Cal was not in the Big East. Conference realignment came for the Big12 and I did not speak out because Cal was not in the Big12. Finally conference realignment came for the Pac12 and no one cared about Cal.
I've been in your camp, Nick, for a very long time. I've been there since the start of the BCS nonsense and have often fretted that we were seeing the changing of college football and not for the better in pursuit of the almighty dollar. All the while ADs and college presidents said that NIL would be the death of college football. The unspoken part was that the ADs and the college presidents would be the death of college football because they would pursue the Big Bucks even if ti meant making college football nothing more than the NFL minor leagues.
Bowl games will contract, maybe dry up, within the next decade if not sooner. College football has always been about transferring wealth from the fans and the colleges to the bowl game folks and the TV networks ever since the advent of TV and the SEC.
The Rose Bowl is on life support, and it's only recently been made obvious that this is the case.
The loss of regional rivalries like this is going to hurt the sport in the long run, even if the current bosses can't see it while they chase short-term TV money. Strip away the history and tradition, and at some point college football just becomes a worse version of the NFL.
This feels like earthquake weather, just the college football edition. I can imagine waking up to a whole bunch of different scenarios that I would never have imagined just a couple of months ago.
1. Big 12 and Pac 10 merge!
2. Cal, Stanford to the Big 10!
3. Big 12, Pac 10, ACC merge!
4. Cal and Stanford in the SEC????
5. Cal is independent...joining the LIV tour...
None would surprise me
The obvious and only solution for me is to stop caring about college sports. That's a decision that, while it has some pangs of regret, has been getting easier and easier for a long time.
I don't believe most Cal fans want to see Cal in the Big 10, Big 12 or ACC. Our choices are limited - and it's all about the lesser evils. Cal must work to preserve what's left of the original Pac - in whatever form or under whatever affiliation is necessary. As for the southern traitors - you're dead to us.
I share the sentiments of the author. I've lived my entire life rooting against $C and the little bruins. Of all games Cal plays, even more for me than Furd, I want to beat the LA schools. Nothing, nothing, will replace that. Why have I ever cheered for college sports, and remained a fan into adulthood instead of switching to a focus on professional sports? Because I have loved the amateur status and scholar/athleticism of Pac 8-10-12 schools. Take that away, and what is there? Why would I watch on Saturday? I have season tickets this year. What will the future look like for my investment? This whole thing is depressing. It rocks my world more than just about anything. How the next few years play out will be profoundly impactful to Cal Athletics not only through TV rights and such, but alumni loyalty and ticket purchases.
UCLA fan here (pay no attention to the avatar with a Davidson-era Steph Curry, it’s complicated). I love this move for UCLA because it gives them a path to become competitive again and get the athletic department out of a hole. I think UCLA will emerge and look a lot like what Texas A&M looks like in the SEC now.
I hate this move because it destroys West Coast athletics as we know it. My school just happened to get thrown a lifeline—the definition of failing upward.
There’s a lot of blame to go around, sure — Oregon and Stanford not capitalizing on CFP opportunities, the conference being locked into a long term deal, scheduling, refs, title game locations, etc.
The two biggest failures in my mind though, come down to local leadership at the CA schools, and leadership at the conference levels.
The conference level is obvious—the CEO group enabled Larry Scott towards a decade of incompetence. And Gene Block was one of his strongest supporters, along with Michael Crow at ASU.
But plain and simple, the CA ADs and the UC system botched their tenures. Dan Guerrero almost single-handedly ruined the athletic department all for the sake of “keeping a balanced budget”. You all know how Barbour screwed everything up for Cal athletics better than I did. It’s part of Stanford culture not to give a shit about football save for the three years you have a once in a generation prospect like Andrew Luck, and USCs revolving door of sanctions, Kiffin/Sark/Helton and ADs (Pat Haden and Lynn Swann? Really?) led to USC becoming an absolute joke.
All those isolated failures had massive implications on the PAC-12 brand. It matters when the 4 schools that are in two of the largest media markets in the country and are supposed to be carrying the flag for the conference just shit the bed.
And that’s a shame. We weren’t just the Conference of Champions, we used to be one of the strongest football conferences in the country even in the early 2010s. It’s just astounding (and sad) 10 years of abysmal leadership led to the dissolution of 100+ years of tradition and history as a conference.
Thank you for writing this column. It sums up how I feel too. My interest in CFB is pretty quickly draining away.
It is pretty clear that pecuniary interests have once again trumped student welfare and tradition. Flights will be longer and will disrupt the athletes’ academics to a greater extent. Whether the students themselves or their parents actually care about academics at all is another matter… The increased travel costs will likely become burden for the UC system generally and the State, not UCLA, while increased advert. revenues UCLA will attempt to keep for themselves. For me, UCLA leaving PAC-10/12 isn’t very important. Stanford, Oregon and UW, WA State are Cal’s principal rivals. It is disappointing to see USC go though. Perhaps we can find other Universities on the Pacific Coast who would like the challenge of playing in the PAC-10/12. Pepperdine and Gonzaga come to mind…. Also USF. ( I don’t know which conference they play in now).
I keep wondering if voting YES for a 12-team playoff would have made any difference in keeping $C from jumping ship and taking UCLA with them.
This news has all been so deflating over the past several weeks. Is there any good news? Is the team focused and prepared for a winning season or is this a distraction?
This article has been linked to the CFB subreddit page.
In lieu of the SBNation blogs, what are the WFC equivalents for the other Pac-12 California schools? Interested in getting the temperatures of fanbases of over the realignment conversation.
Absolutely sucks whats going on with college ball. Realignment and nil will kill it. It was supposed to be amateur athletics. Texas Tech just announced they will pay every player 25k per year. Think that's about beginning farm club rate for minors and no one goes to those games either.